What competencies do secondary schools require from novice teachers in Catalonia?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The objective of this research was to investigate the perceptions of secondary education professionals regarding the competences of recently graduated teachers, with the purpose of developing a closer fit between university teacher training and schools’ requirements, and with a view to enhancing initial training. METHOD. The study was performed by analysing the database of the Ocupadors a l'àmbit d'Ensenyament survey, administered at the end of 2015 by the AQU. 281 education centres in Catalonia were surveyed. We focused on 69 secondary schools, and especially on the 34 schools that had recently incorporated graduate teachers. FINDINGS. The Exploratory Factor Analysis multivariate statistical technique enabled us to (a) identify the competences with greater weight in the factorial model, and (b) to group the competences according to independent factors. The resulting factorial model was composed of four dimensions, which were analysed according to their importance, their satisfaction and their room for improvement: (1) instrumental and technical competences; (2) pedagogical competences; (3) interdisciplinary competences; and (4) systemic competences. DISCUSSION. The results show that the pedagogical and systemic competences were those with greater room for improvement in initial training. Another noteworthy finding was the special importance that participants attributed to interdisciplinarity competences. Both these issues invite us to reflect on the profile of High School teachers – disciplinary or polyvalent – and on their training in competences.